I didn't think it was as squeamishly violent as Scorcese's other gangster works, which was probably a good thing in my mind. The comic moments were well done, especially with Baldwin. Although Marky Mark was very good, it seemed that every line from him had to be snappy and/or wisecracking, which became a bit of a distraction. Obviously, this is all pretty nitpicky stuff, but all affects the final product.

As others have pointed out, the use of cell phones may have had a few inconsistent moments (ringing of phone while Leo tags Damon in alley), and the movie may have leaned on this device (cell as plot mover) too much. You would think other side characters (all growing more and more suspicious of own allies as movie continues) would be keeping a closer eye on every little move of their own associates ... especially ones who are fiddling with their cells and receiving calls/text messages from who knows where!

And my last, very personal caveat (which probably spurred my "modern movie audiences" comment above) ...
While the twists were unexpected and well-executed (at least to me), every time I watch these movies with the curveball endings, I immediately think that the replay potential diminishes. The Sixth Sense Dilemma, if you will. I almost wish the twists in The Departed weren't so relevant to the plot, or that the ending as a whole was a bit more conventional (not in that hack way, but in a good way ).

Besides all my little gripes though, I enjoyed The Departed and thought all of the performances were stellar. Not being a Scorcese lover, I still found some of his other works to be a bit more "Scorcese."

The whole thing with DiCaprio giving the shrink the envelope to be opened after he died, in two weeks, etc. I don't need everything tied up in a bow necessarily, but it would have been nice if we had a clue what was in it, if she opened it, etc. It seemed like whatever was in it was likely information about Matt Damon's true identity that was given to Mark Wahlberg and lead to Matt Damon's death, but we'll never know for sure. They should have either made that clearer or just let Matt Damon get away with it and not brought up the envelope thing IMO. That being said, I LOVED the movie

to the degree that she's engaged to Damon and screwing DiCaprio,

Personally, I think it would have been fitting for Sullivan to survive amidst that fear of exposure for the remainder of his life.

I was hoping the film was going to end with the psychiatrist walking away from Sullivan directly after the funeral (at this point, I'm thinking "Wow, fantastic ending. Best Film of Year material"). As she's walking away, I was left with lots of unanswered questions that would have been GREAT left unanswered ("Whoa, will she expose him?", "Will another member of the force discover the truth?", "Is the baby HIS?", "What really IS is the envelope?"). Then, once I saw Sullivan easily bite it and escape that dread at the end, all of those points lost their weight for me.

It should be so obvious to the criminals that Decaprio is the rat. There are some movie reasons why they don't think so, re-breaking his arm, he arrives at the empty building, etc. But there are just too few gangsters, and they continue to trust him. I remember thinking the same thing about Infernal Affairs. After a while it became a bit frustrating.